Moments you may not have spotted during Liverpool's Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Saturday evening
Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana during the Premier League football match at Anfield on November 1 2025
Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana during the Premier League football match at Anfield on November 1 2025
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Liverpool finally brought an end to their run of domestic defeats with a home Premier League victory over Aston Villa on Saturday evening. Mohamed Salah notched a landmark 250th goal for the Reds shortly before half-time and Ryan Gravenberch netted after the interval to secure a 2-0 triumph.
The result means the Reds have moved back into the top four and avoided becoming the first Liverpool side to lose five league games in a row in 72 years.
But there was plenty that went unnoticed or under the radar during the 90 minutes at Anfield...
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Attwell not so well
Tempers were running high, particularly during the first half when the game was very much in the balance. And that was never more evident than when Amadou Onana was hurt when bundled into the advertising hoarding behind the Anfield Road Stand goal after a tussle with Dominik Szoboszlai.
Despite Onana being off the pitch, the game was held up for several minutes as he received first attention from Villa players and then medical treatment.
It led to Virgil van Dijk sprinting half the length of the pitch to angrily have a word with referee Stuart Attwell to prompt him to restart the game. No doubt a certain recent Michael Oliver decision was utmost in the mind of the Liverpool skipper.
Onana no-no
Mind you, it wasn't the only time former Everton midfielder Onana raised the ire of the Liverpool players and crowd. As the teams waited for Villa to deliver a second-half corner, Alexis Mac Allister found himself prone in the back of the net after being momentarily throttled by his opponent.
The Argentina international eventually got to his feet before being caught again by Onana, and then a third time when the corner was finally taken, leading to the award of a free-kick.
The fevered celebration of Mac Allister when the foul was awarded spoke volumes. That's the kind of fire Liverpool have been missing in recent weeks.
Not having a ball
Mac Allister was also involved in an amusing moment in the second half. With the Reds on the attack, the midfielder hadn't noticed the offside flag had been raised when he fired a powerful shot just wide that almost took out an unassuming steward stationed behind the Kop goal.
Earlier on, another steward had to tell a young ball assistant to put a matchball back on a pitchside cone as part of the multi-ball protocol.
During the closing moments of the recent home defeat to Manchester United, balls were being thrown to Liverpool players rather than being left alone for players to retrieve. Outrageous behaviour.
Salah snub
There was some proper Scouse royalty in attendance on Saturday evening with Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman both working the game for TNT Sport.
The pair were embraced by Mohamed Salah after the game, and later both Salah and Gerrard were seen strolling through the mixed zone - the area where journalists try usually in vain to eke some words out of a player - when the latter started laughing.
"I used to stop every game!" said Gerrard to Salah, who then chose to ignore the advice and carry on walking past. Oh for those verbose old days...